Chuck assemblies for securely holding and rotating a tool or workpiece are well know. The gripper members of these known chucks can be operated manually, hydraulically or pneumatically. One extremely efficient and effective fluid actuated chuck is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,207 which issued to Anton Fink on Sept. 14, 1982.
Although many prior art chucks are capable of effectively holding a tool or workpiece, these chucks tend to be complex and costly. At least part of this complexity is due to the need to provide an apparatus having jaws that are both radially movable to securely grasp the tool or workpiece, and that are rotatable for performing work.
Robotic devices recently have been developed to facilitate many manufacturing processes. For example, robotic devices may be used to advance an object from a storage bin to a work station. Similarly, robotic devices often are used to advance an object from one work station to the next. In other instances robotic devices are used to remove a tool from a tool holder and to selectively place an alternate tool in the tool holder. In still other instances robotic devices are used to hold and perform work with a tool. Specifically, robotic devices may hold and perform specific tasks with welding torches, spray guns or rivetting devices.
Typically robotic devices have included an arm or an interconnected array of arms which are operative to move according to a preselected and specially designed program of instructions. The end of this arm or array of arms has included a mechanism to grasp and hold the required tool or workpiece. These grasping mechanisms typically have utilized the technology developed in connection with chucks. In this respect, the grasping mechanisms that have been used with robitic devices have been effective in performing the required work, but also have been excessively complex and costly. More particularly, the grasping mechanisms used with robotic devices have relied upon a technology developed in connection with rotating tool or workpiece holders. However, robotic devices seldom require rotatable holding members. The known grasping mechanisms also have been deficient in that the operation of the mechanism often has been incorporated into or dependent upon the operation of the robotic device. This has limited the selection of mechanisms and operational methods that are available to users of robotic devices. Thus, a sophisticated robotic device could be made unnecessarily costly or inefficient for a specific function by virtue of its grasping mechanism.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to develop a simple gripping apparatus adapted for use with robotic devices, and which is inexpensive to manufacture.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide a gripping apparatus that can readily be mounted to any of a broad range of robotic devices.
It is an additional object of the subject invention to provide a gripping apparatus that is self contained and that can be activated independent of the operation of the robotic device.
It is a further object of the subject invention to provide an apparatus capable of securely grasping a wide variety of tools and workpieces.